On March 11, the Spanish government approved a bill that provides for heavy fines for companies that improperly label content created with the help of artificial intelligence, in order to limit the use of deepfakes. About this informs Reuters.
The draft law is based on the guiding principles of the European Union law on artificial intelligence. The document imposes strict obligations on the transparency of AI systems, especially in the context of high-risk uses.
“AI is a very powerful tool that can be used to improve our lives or to spread misinformation and attack democracy.” – said the Minister of Digital Transformation of Spain, Oscar Lopez.
He emphasized that anyone can become a victim of a deepfake — a video or photo distorted with the help of AI algorithms and presented as real. Under the bill, which still needs to be approved by the lower house, it would be a “serious offence” to fail to properly label AI-generated content. A fine of up to $38.2 million or 7% of the company’s global annual turnover is provided for such a violation.
Spain became one of the first EU countries to introduce similar rules. These are considered more comprehensive than the US system, which is based mostly on voluntary compliance with government regulations.
